The public telecommunications network makes extensive use of signaling system number 7 (SS7) protocol to communicate among the various network elements. End to end routing of a signaling system number 7 message often requires the use of the transaction capabilities application part (TCAP) portion of the signaling system number 7 protocol. The transaction capabilities application part enables the deployment of advanced intelligent network services by supporting non-circuit related information exchange between signaling points. For example, a service switching point (SSP) uses the transaction capabilities application part to query a service control point (SCP) to determine the routing number associated with a dialed 800, 888, or 900 number. The service control point uses the transaction capabilities application part to return back to the service switching point a response containing the routing number. Calling card calls are also validated using transaction capabilities application part query and response messages. Furthermore, when a mobile subscriber roams into a new mobile switching center area, an integrated visitor location register may request service profile information from a subscriber's home location register using information carried within transaction capabilities application part messages.
Communication of transaction capabilities application part messages between two or more nodes in an intelligent network conventionally takes place using an application protocol defined by standard committees such as Bellcore or ETSI. Two such application protocols are INAP, defined by ETSI and AIN 0.1, defined by Bellcore. Each application protocol has a message set that defines how information is communicated between intelligent network nodes. The message set for an application protocol is specified by a standards committee in such a way as to give the service provider some message content flexibility. Therefore, for some message fields, the service provider may define the content of the message fields. Because each application protocol developed for each customer uses some message information that is customer specific, message information for an application protocol is typically defined in the source code of the programs using the application protocol.
Because customer specific message information is contained in the source code of programs using an application protocol, it is possible that several versions of an application protocol used for transaction capabilities application part messages must be maintained. Creating and maintaining multiple source code versions of the same application protocol adds complexity and requires additional development resources. Furthermore, modifications to any particular customers application protocol are cumbersome because they require changes to the source code of the programs using the application protocol. In today's fast-paced telecommunications environment, this tedious and time-consuming service implementation method is unacceptable.